Article · 20 October 2026 · 3 min
Four things to arrange before your first invoice.
A complaints scheme is mandatory. Professional liability, disability insurance and legal expenses cover are a judgement call — but not one to put off.
Before you send your first invoice as a self-employed professional in dental care, four things belong on your list. One of them is a legal requirement: the Wkkgz complaints scheme. The other three — professional liability, disability and legal expenses cover — are a judgement call, but one you make deliberately. Anyone who has this in order is in a stronger position in the rate negotiation.
1. The Wkkgz complaints scheme: mandatory
As a self-employed care provider you must have a complaints scheme and be affiliated with a recognised disputes body. That is not a choice but a legal requirement. You can join through your professional association, among other routes.
This is the only one of the four where there is nothing to weigh up. So arrange it before you start, not afterwards.
2. Professional liability: the best known
Professional liability insurance is the best known of the four. Practices that hire you ask for it as standard. So expect your policy to come up as soon as you discuss an assignment.
3. Disability insurance: not mandatory, but the biggest risk
Disability insurance (AOV) is not mandatory. It is, however, the biggest risk you run. If you work with your hands and are out of action, you earn nothing — and no other policy protects you against that.
Whether you take it out and with whom is your decision. But make that decision deliberately, instead of pushing the point to later.
4. Legal expenses cover: worth considering
Legal expenses cover is the fourth on the list. It is worth considering, if only in case a disciplinary complaint ever comes your way.
What it brings you in the rate negotiation
We do not sell insurance and we will not tell you which policy to take. What does stand out: a self-employed professional who has this in order is in a stronger position in the rate negotiation. Practices notice the difference.
Honestly: these are four things to arrange, not a guarantee of assignments. But they are the four a practice asks about or looks at before you start.
The checklist is on our site, without a sales pitch: Insurance for self-employed professionals in dental care. Want to know where you stand? We are happy to take a look with you.
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Questions about your own situation?
This article is general; your practice or your career is not. Put your question to us — you get an honest answer, including when that is “don’t do it”.